Rico Abreu celebrates in Victory Lane after scoring his first career Chili Bowl Nationals victory Saturday night. Photo by Mike Spivey
Saturday night was one for the record books, as California’s Rico Abreu raced to his first triumph in the finale of the 29th annual Lucas Oil Chili Bowl Midget Nationals at the Tulsa Expo Center in Tulsa, OK, delivering car owner Keith Kunz his first Golden Driller trophy since 2002.
“I just tried to stay as patient as I could. You know the race is a not a long race, but it is a long race. For a few laps I just kind of got after it just to see where we were at and I hung with him (Bryan Clauson) pretty good,” commented Abreu about his pass for the lead. “I don’t know how hard he was racing, but when the time was right I pulled the trigger and gave him a slide job and was waiting for him to slide me back. We dragged raced each other into three and I came out with the lead.”
Starting the Toyota / Abreu Vineyards No. 97 third, Abreu slipped back to fifth as Bryan Clauson jumped to the lead over Jerry Coons, Jr. with Kyle Larson in tow. Jumping to a sizable advantage on the restart, Coons and Larson raced for runner up until Larson spun in turn two on the 15th round.
Using restarts to his advantage, Abreu jumped past Coons for second on a lap 20 restart. Slowed again on lap 22, green laps saw Abreu close on the back bumper of Clauson for the lead.
Setting up the pass, Abreu drove to the bottom entering the first turn. As Abreu made the pass, Clauson, the defending race winner, turned low in an attempt to retake the lead. Abreu held the highline and held on to the lead on lap 26. Leaving the field to battle, caution flew again on lap 39 as Daryn Pittman tangled with Clauson in turn four battling for second, sending the pair to the tail of the field.
Picking his way through the field from the tail after being involved in a crash on lap 13 that involved five other drivers, Kevin Swindell moved to third on lap 40 after contact with his father, Sammy Swindell, sent the elder back several spots.
Finding traffic in the final laps, Kevin Swindell closed quickly but time would run out as Rico grabbed the win.
“You come here four years in a row and leave here as the winner, and sit in that middle chair, it’s no fun to even run second anymore. Last year was kind of depressing and pretty much the same thing of just being a couple laps too late,” commented Swindell. “We had a great car, but somebody else’s mistake really put me behind the eight ball at the beginning. I did all I could to get back, but Rico was really good at the end.”
Damion Gardner clawed from 23rd to third driving the Leffler Memorial No. 71L. Tanner Thorson came from 18th to fourth with Sammy Swindell recovering to complete the top five.
From his tangle with Clauson, Oklahoma’s Daryn Pittman came to sixth with Kyle Larson recovering from a spin to place seventh. Andrew Deal was eighth with Zach Daum ninth after starting 20th. Clauson ended up 10th.
For more info on the Chili Bowl Nationals, visit ChiliBowl.com.
Chili Bowl Nationals
Tulsa Expo Raceway – Tulsa, OK
A-Feature Results – Jan. 17, 2015
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1. 97-Rico Abreu
2. 39-Kevin Swindell
3. 71L-Damion Gardner
4. 67-Tanner Thorson
5. 1-Sammy Swindell
6. 21-Daryn Pittman
7. 71K-Kyle Larson
8. 15D-Andrew Deal
9. 5D-Zach Daum
10. 63-Bryan Clauson
11. 8K-Blake Hahn
12. 05-Brad Loyet
13. 5-Jerry Coons, Jr.
14. 7A-Darren Hagen
15. 2B-Ryan Bernal
16. 17C-Casey Shuman
17. 1ST-J.J. Yeley
18. 39B-Spencer Bayston
19. 63K-Chris Windom
20. 17RW-Dave Darland
21. 15X-Chad Boat
22. 5C-Colten Cottle
23. 71-Christopher Bell
24. 88B-Terry Babb
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